An artist's impression of how Hayabusa-2 looks (Image: JAXA )
Hayabusa-2 completed its landing late on Thursday night on to the surface of the asteroid and has since fired a bullet at the rock’s surface. If the probe’s mission on the asteroid is a success, it could help scientists understand how the Earth was formed in the early solar system. According to the New York Times, the spacecraft has gathered samples from Ryugu, which is close to the Earth and is a potentially hazardous asteroid.
Hayabusa2 was onRyugu to collecting its data before returning back to Earth.
The probe shot a bullet into the asteroid’s surface in order to make numerous small fragments which will be taken on its return journey.
The Planetary Society predicts the machine was on the surface for approximately one second before it returned to a safe distance
